Infection
by Hallowed Be Thy Name 683
Summary: A UNSC ship tags along with a covenant super carrier during a slip space jump, and the two of them end up crashing on Halo.


_**Infection**_

_Chapter One:_

**1235 Hours, November 11th, 2552 (Military Calendar) /UNSC Destroyer: **_Thermopylae_**, in defensive cluster around Planet Earth.**

Captain Joseph Curthoys Stood in front of the foreword view screen of the bridge,

He was proud standing in his new ship, it was pressed, and made ready for combat less then 2 weeks ago, and it was like new. The Captain had seen much combat, but from a different point of view, behind 5 meters of hard Titanium A.

He tapped a few commands on his view screen. A strong male voice boomed through the bridge, and above a small circular panel, the holographic figure of a Greek man stood, in full Greek battle Armor. "I heard that" he said calmly. "Leonidas, I need you to do a calibration check on the archer pods, some men down in engineering reported there were some errors earlier."

"Already done sir," The AI replied as it vanished back into the panel. The Captain Examined the defensive cluster around earth, it was built as hard as stone, since Reach fell from the covenant, Earth began building up its defensive, it was now two times stronger then the defense of reach, with a fleet several times bigger, And since that...Spartan found the new technology, the UNSC has begun the process of upgrading ours.

The Captain scowled, the thought of one of those super powered freaks filled his mind with despair, and humans can win this war without them. It pained him even more to know that one was on bored.

Leonidas popped back from the panel; a dim red light from his base color filled the small corner of the bridge, "Check done sir, The archer pods are having some wiring errors, it's beyond software treatment, I can call some human personnel down there to fix it if you wish sir." "Do it." He said, "And make sure there is no screwing around with them whatsoever." "Aye Sir" Leonidas said as he disappeared again.

The captain continued review the ships files, this was a beautiful ship, although in appearance it was no different from any other destroyer. It was armed to the teeth with explosive and ballistic weapons, the triple MAC gun was hidden safely under the ships belly, and there were enough extra AA guns and 90 caliber turrets around the ship to keep it safe from Seraph fighters, but the most beautiful addition to this ship…was the quadruple alphabet Archer pod missile rows, every single other destroyer had two, but this one had A threw Z twice on each side.

He smiled, the thought of unleashing over 100 archer pods filled him with enjoyment. He looked around the bridge, its circular design was mildly empty, and he had not set any plants or a couch to rest during downtime up yet. But overall, it was nice.

The captain began strolling around the bridge, he bent down and looked over a new ensigns view screen, the young bridge officer hesitated, and then continued with his work, The Captain continued with his stroll, the Ensign was in control of the MAC cannon.

The captain returned to his position in the front of the bridge. The constantly flashing holographic icons that automatically reviewing the ships inner systems, it flashed red indicating an error, Curthoys leaned closer to see what, it was; It indicated that the panel covering the archer pods wiring had been removed. _I guess Leonidas had gotten some specialists down to the Archer pods._

"Uh…Sir" the young bridge officer abruptly said out loud. The Captain turned around and looked at the young officer, "What is it ensign?" "There is something on the edge of the system, something...big… "Show Me," the captain said as he awaited the reading to appear on his main NAV screen. The ensign typed a few commands on his console, and an image appeared on the Captains central view screen.

It showed a crude image of earth, with one or two small ships meant to symbolize the massive fleet, but then ensign was right, there was something…only 3 million kilometers from the fleet…"Ensign" The Captain called out; "Get me a detailed image of that disturbance, and get fleet command to the Cairo, warn them… He was interrupted, "Sir! We're getting a message _from_ the Cairo! Should I put it on speaker?" "Do it" the Captain said" The picture of Lord Hoord appeared on his view screen, instantly he could tell there was trouble,"

"Captain, you're off course with you're trajectory, link up with the fleet, and form a defensive perimeter around the cluster of Ships" Ships!? Though Curthoys, that could only mean one thing, Covenant, "Yes Sir!" The Captain said, Lord Hoord nodded and he disappeared from the view screen, the Captain sprung into action. "Navigations! Get my trajectory Zero Niner Niner eight Zero!" "Yes Sir!" he officer shouted without even glancing at the Captain, he turned to his Weapons Op, "Charge the Mac cannon."

"I can't do a thing unless you go get a wire stripper!" shouted Private Laffarier. "We don't need the wire stripper, just disconnect them at the plug in, and re connect wires A-F in the appropriate slots!" shouted back Corporal Justin Fraser. The young private grumbled and continued leaning into the square hole in the wall.

Justin moaned, he hated going down here, below him has 5 meters of Titanium A, that's it, no other rooms to protect him, not only that, but the room down here was dark and depressing, with only the radioactive glow of pipes, and dim red lights, and the air was in desperate need of air scrubbers, "Their we go!" said Private Laffarier as he backed off from the panel, and pulled a small primer on the side of the wall. A dim blue light came to life inside the gap, singling that the archer pods are now operational. "Good as New."

Justin got up and walked toward the private. The private gave him a concealed scowl. He ignored it, and began looking over his work, everything was in order, It had done it right. "You did it right" Justin said to Laffarier. "Lets go," He said, ignoring the private's obvious urge for a thank-you. A sudden shock went threw Justin as he was flung to the floor, the lights flickered, then turned off. Justin raised his head, there was close to zero visibility. "What the hell" Laffarier muttered. A muffled hum filled the air as the lights fluttered back to life.

Justin turned around Laffarier was their, looking around. "Maybe I should check the wires again." He said as he turned back to the panel, the lights dimmed again. " Never mind that, were getting out of here." Justin said to Laffarier. Laffarier nodded and shut the panel; the two went up the maintenance stairways for 3 decks.

Justin turned a corner and looked back down the stairwell, Laffarier was talking to one of the female engineers on deck 2, _Lazy bastard _Justin thought. He proceeded down the corridor, and stepped over an open airlock. A sudden burst of pressure caught him from behind in an instant the room was unbelievably hotter then it was a moment ago.

He started feeling himself being pulled backwards, the airlock behind him sealed, and the room returned to normal pressure, with no "vacuum" pulling him back. He quickly got up and tried to pry the door open. "Laffarier!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. No response. "LAFFARIER!" he shouted again. No response again.

"What the hell is going on?" Justin muttered to himself.

3


End file.
